Bridgeport

by JoAnne Gazarek Bloom, Maureen F. Sullivan, Daniel Pogorzelski

Overview

Explore Bridgeport, the most political neighborhood in the most political of cities - home to five Chicago mayors and parades of politicians honoring its power at national conventions.

Once a Native American village traversed by Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet, as Chicago grew the area was called Hardscrabble, then Cabbage Gardens, and finally Bridgeport. Immigrants built it: the Irish dredged a canal and mined a quarry that led to slaughterhouses, cooperages, rolling mills, and breweries that were worked by Germans, Bohemians, Swedes, and Poles. Held dear as the "Heart of Lithuania," muckrakers described parts of it as a heartbreaking jungle. More immigrants came: Italians, Croatians, Mexicans, Chinese. Against the backdrop of prairies, labor strife, gangways, and Joe Podsajdwokiem, this sometimes uneasy mix lived, worked, and voted together. Bridgeport still has streets that defy the city's orderly grid, settlement houses, language stews, and, for each nationality, churches and taverns. Today, it may welcome artists and expensive housing, but on summer nights stoop sitting and rooting for the White Sox remain social obligations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738577302
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	08/13/2012
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,110,189
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.40(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

JoAnne Gazarek Bloom and Maureen F. Sullivan are Chicagoans, Bridgeport born. JoAnne teaches at Loyola University Law School, and Maureen develops not-for-profit organizations on Chicago's South Side. Daniel Pogorzelski is vice president and chief historian for the Northwest Chicago Historical Society. He also coauthored Images of America: Portage Park.

Table of Contents

Introduction 6

1 How Bridgeport Shaped Chicago 9

2 "What Side You From?" 15

3 Spires and Domes 41

4 How Bridgeport Transformed Commerce 57

5 Smells, Strife, and Strikes 71

6 Bridgeport Mayors Rule 79

7 Getting Around 91

8 Fun and Games 99

9 Baseball Palace of the World 109

10 Gone but Not Forgotten 119